The autumnal equinox, when day and night are almost equal, has come and gone, the nights are getting longer, temperatures cooling and we begin to look forward to winter fires and long evenings. Predictions begin to come in as to where in the UK will actually receive snow this year.
The Harvest Moon came upon us this week, the first time it has appeared in October in eight years. It lit the sky, making evening walks without torchlight perfectly possible no matter where you were.
Living and working on the coast our community always has one eye on the tide, and last night was predicted to be higher than the norm, presumably in the light of the Harvest Moon. The sheep were out on the marsh, and with the sea wall breached in one place this was a test of natural flood alleviation. I went to the wall about an hour before the high was predicted. It was already much higher than usual, lapping against the wall, covering large expanses of salt marsh and almost covering the little jetty that juts out in the direction of the Wade. We walked to the breach site, the ground damp under our feet, keeping an eye out to deeper patches. The rams were settled down for the night, oblivious as to the potential threat from the incoming tide.
In the end no problems were experienced. The tide settled and thanks to the relative lack of wind and timing of surge all was fine. Another reminder however that when you live on low lying areas of the coast you should always be aware of your great watery neighbour which will rise and fall and occasionally move further inland than the norm. There is no technology that can get us around this experience. It’s a constant of coastal experience and we ignore it at our peril.
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